If you’re like most engineers, you’ve probably wondered if you’re being paid what you should be. It’s an interesting question, but also a tough one to
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answer because of the number of variables that are at play – your industry, the kind of organization you work for, economic trends, what your education and credentials are… there’s a lot to think about! It’s also hard to answer because it’s not something you necessarily want to discuss with your colleagues around the water cooler.
So, what’s an engineer to do in order to sort out their engineering salary? Today, I’m going to share with you some of the tools and ideas I’ve come across over the years to evaluate job offers and raises for myself. I hope that they prove to be helpful to you in your career. If you know of any others that I missed, be sure to add them to the comments section below the article.
Tools to Figure Out your Engineering Salary
PayScale
My favourite tool is definitely PayScale.com. Using PayScale, you create a profile for yourself that includes your job title, years in the industry, the kind of organization you work for (or would like to work for), your degree, where in the world you work, how many people you manage, and so on. Then, it spits out a range of salaries reported by people who entered in similar information to you. It’s great, and it provides you with a really good idea of where you sit with respect to others in similar situations.
Best of all, PayScale is free. Woot!
Salary Surveys
In Canada, regional professional associations complete salary surveys of their members. Sometimes access to the results are free, other times you need to pay for the results. It depends on where you live. I would expect that this is common practice in most other places in the world.
The beauty of these salary surveys is that the data are current and highly relevant. They come from real engineers living in your neck of the woods, working in the same industries you’re interested in.
I’ve used the results of these salary surveys twice in the past to negotiate higher starting salaries. This works because the data are impartial – you’re not arguing that you should earn more because you want it. You make the argument that you’re an above-average engineer for your experience (or whatever), and the data show what an above-average engineer should make. You might surprise yourself with what you can get by making a solid case for yourself.
Check out your professional engineering association’s website to see if they participate in any kind of engineering salary survey. If not, then you might try your national engineering association, or a discipline-based association (IEEE, ASHRAE, etc.). If you find one that requires a purchase, try splitting the cost with some friends.
Other Tools
Here are a couple other tools you might use to evaluate salaries (pulled from the discussion forums at the Institute of Engineering Career Development)
Take Action
Try using these websites to see what you should be earning. How do the numbers stack up? Do you know of any other resources to determine your engineering salary? Tell us about it in the comments section below!
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